There’s lots written on her, and statuary found of her. What the Varehnai know of her is completely different.

Born xxx to xxx, she married her cousin Hadrian, who she loved…but he preferred men to women.

As a child, Vibia’s father Lucius Vibius Sabina died suddenly. Vibia, her half-sister and her mother Matidia moved in with their maternal grandmother Marciana, who lived with Emperor Trajan.

Trajan was married to Vibia’s Aunt Plotidia, her mother Matidia’s twin sister. Hadrian and Vibia grew up together. They loved one another dearly – just not in ‘that’ way. Vibia knew her whole life that her cousin Hadrian preferred men to women. As it became clear that he was being groomed to be Emperor in Trajan’s place, Vibia’s Aunt Plotidia began lobbying for Hadrian to marry his cousin Vibia, which was not unusual for that time. Even though not attracted to women, the two of them knew one another, and there were familial ties. More importantly for both of them, they felt genuine affection for one another, and Vibia didn’t have any false expectations regarding her cousin’s attentions. She could have her own dalliances, she was told, but she needed to be discreet; at no point was she to bring shame to her family, or give either Trajan or Hadrian cause to have to rebuke her. That, and at some point in the future, have a child together; more would be better. Little was done on those fronts; both did their ‘duty’ once they married, but no children came of their efforts.

Vibia and Hadrian married in AD 100. Sometimes, Vibia stayed in Rome, sometimes she traveled along with him. In AD 103, Hadrian was sent to the Roman province of Pannonia, where he was serving as the praetorian legate. Vibia remained in her great uncle Trajan’s home; he was still Emperor. Vibia was in the royal gardens one evening as the heat of the day subsided, and was met with a handsome stranger named Marcellus who was visiting Trajan. He got lost and ended up in a garden he didn’t belong in, and while he was enjoying its serenity, Vibia called him out for traspassing. The man, Marcellus, didn’t know who she was; they ended up having a fling. A month and a half into their affair, Vibia contracted smallpox and was dying. He turned her; he found her too interesting and too intelligent to allow her to die. Her sire was Marcellus Tarquinius. While the romance between them didn’t last, their friendship did, until he died due to treachery prior to the Fourth Virehnai War.

One thing Marcellus was entirely responsible for was Vibia realizing that her knowledge and upbringing, could be turned to diplomacy within the Virehnai community. To that end, she brokered the accords that brought the first ever peace between the factions.

However, the accords were ill-fated, and destined for failure in the face of the Fourth Virehnai War.That war was sparked by a number of poorly timed events. At the lead up to the Fourth War, she was working for the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund and the Catholic Church, as advisors. A very limited number of people knew who and what she was, and because she was once the Holy Roman Empress alongside Hadrian, she had a standing, a royal bearing and power that she didn’t hesitate to use. Vibia served as a kingmaker - it was at Vibia’s urging that Charlemagne was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in Rome by the Pope - and she served both the crown and the triregnum (papal tiara.)

All would’ve been well, until she began hearing from Sigismund and others that knew what she was - a Virehn - that there were others that were popping up alongside many European royal families; and if they weren’t Virehn, they were ‘Virehn-adjacent’ having sworn either an oath, or even a blood oath to them.

When Vibia looked into it - she felt she had to; there needed to be a low profile maintained when one was so adjacent to humans with power over others - she was horrified to discover that they came from the same place. Over and over, she heard the name “House of Basarab.” Aligned with that Royal House was another name; one she was well acquainted with: Aleksandr Philippou, also known as Sasha. He was a sibling of both Howard and Michel, and a son of Diotimus.

When she looked into it further, she became more and more horrified. Not only had Sasho Philippou been a patron to a noble line, quite a few were now Virehnai. Worse still, the line had two troublesome, vexing points she couldn’t get past: Women from the Baserabi line had been married into not only many European royal houses…but had also been married into the current Ottoman Royal line as well...and that was getting worse by the day as the fighting between the sides amped up. As if THAT wasn’t bad enough, it appeared that the very first progenitor of the Basarab line might have been the grandson or great grandson of Ghenghis Khan, with Tihomir’s father having been part of the Yellow Horde that went screaming across Europe! The blood, pedigree and knowledge that was seeding itself into royal lines frightened her. Wars between humans were bad enough; usually, they ended up including virehnai sooner or later, as ill-thought alliances caused difficulties. But this? This was a horror waiting for a place to roost. As she sat at her retreat along the Adriatic Sea that had been gifted to her by her Great Uncle Trajan, staring out at the waves crashing against the shore, all she could see was a time coming when every King or noble who had a stake in the battles would want a Virehnai by their side. She had seen it happen before - but not on the scale that was about to happen.

Vibia had no way to adequately warn any of them exactly what was about to happen. The best she could do was help as she could, be a diplomatic voice of reason, use her power to help the Virehnai, and the humans, too, if she was able - and more than anything, pick up the pieces when the war was done.

Damn Aleksandr Philippou for being a meddling fool.